Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Dragon Bound.

Julian and Mellie haven’t been together for decades. As they are both immortals from different demesne’s in the Elder Races—Julian is from the Nightkind (vampire) demesne and Mellie is the Light Fae heir—a couple of decades isn’t much in the grand scheme of things. It is, however, a long enough time to feed a grudge that was planted 20 years prior after a disastrous ending to their relationship. Lately, it seems as though any time they’re in a room together, they snap at each other. But when Mellie is kidnapped and her mom needs help saving her, Julian drops everything at a moment’s notice and runs to her rescue.

One of the beauties of Midnight’s Kiss was in the development of Mellie and Julian’s relationship. They both have such strong emotions for one another, each completely absorbed in their reasons for disliking the other, that watching them attempt to put that aside and then bring it to the forefront was a journey on its own. And I’m not even mentioning the kidnapping and the horrors they both had to face to get Mellie out of there (that’s better left unspoiled).

I was hesitant to read Midnight’s Kiss. One of my favorite installments of the series was Carling and Rune’s story and it didn’t paint Julian in the best light. Coming into this story with Julian and Mellie, I was expecting him to be more duty-oriented and cold in comparison to the long-suffering vampire, pining for his long-lost love. Not that that’s all there is to him; I just was expecting a jerk who exiled his sire and it is not what I got. There are so many layers to Julian; he can be cold and calculating as well as show you his wholehearted devotion. It turned out that discovering the intricate history of Julian’s past was one of my favorite parts of reading Midnight’s Kiss.

If I’m honest, Midnight’s Kiss is everything I love about the Elder Races series that I felt was slightly lacking in the last couple of installments: inter-demesne politics, sexy vampires, almost non-stop action, a complicated romance, sexy vampires… you get the picture. While I would normally recommend you read this series from the beginning (because of the politics and all the back-stories) for this one that might not be necessary. It would read great as a standalone as any previous storylines were easily explained and understood here.

Between the ongoing action and intense chemistry between Julian and Mellie, I could barely put Midnight’s Kiss down. If you’re a fan of the Elder Races series, you need to pick up this one. And if you haven’t read any yet, why not start with this one?